


8 Days of Steven Universe

by daggerpen



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 19:42:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 3,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5468615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daggerpen/pseuds/daggerpen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For a Hanukkah gift this year, I wrote my friend Alex a short Steven Universe fic every day. Includes Peridot, Steven and Amethyst bonding, Ruby and Sapphire romance, and a whole lotta Pearl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Smart Mark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven and Peridot see the Purple Puma in action.

"I don't understand the point of this activity." Peridot folded her arms, frowning as Steven filed into the seat beside her, "Amethyst is objectively stronger and faster than any of these so-called 'wrestlers.' She's obviously going to win."

"It's not just about winning, Peridot!" Steven informed her, before biting into a small piece of some sort of overheated organic plant seed matter. "There's a whole story involved! See, the Quartz Carrot-"

"The carrot is a quartz?"

"No, it's - oh, it's starting! Maybe it'll make more sense if you just watch?"

Peridot doubted it, but she sat patiently through the matches as she watched the inoptimal techniques of the various fighters leading up to Amethyst's fight.

"That carrot is in no way a quartz," she muttered, only to be "shushed" loudly by someone behind her.

"Look, Amethyst's match is starting!" Steven began to wave excitedly, jumping up and down in his seat. "Woo! Go Purple Puma, we love you!"

"'Purple Puma'?" Peridot asked. "That's not her name."

"They're stage names, Peridot," Steven explained. "To make it more fun!"

"Right..."

Amethyst, exactly as Peridot had predicted, won her fight easily, even with the ridiculous waste of energy she was dumping into this substandard shapeshifting form. She triumphed in the next one as well, as well as all of her subsequent matches, up until the tournament finale, wherein she was awarded some sort of belt.

"Is that a weapon?" Amethyst asked? "Is that why they're fighting, to get the weapon?"

"SHH!" came the voice from behind her again, and Peridot grumbled as Steven grabbed her wrist, dragging her towards the exit of the small seating area.

"Come on, we should congratulate Amethyst!" Steven said. Pearl just shrugged and followed.

Amethyst was... smiling. "Steven! You made it!" She grabbed Steven and swung him into the air, clearly overjoyed with her victory.

"You did it! I knew you'd win!"

"Yes, we knew," Peridot said informatively. Amethyst looked at her, and set Steven down, staring curiously.

"Peridot? You came?"

"Steven said it would be... 'fun'." She paused, Amethyst seeming to expect something further of her.

"Well, did you like it?" Amethyst asked eventually.

Peridot paused, remembering the obvious elation of Amethyst in her victory. She didn't really understand it - she'd fought far worthier battles - but...

"I think I see the point of this now," she said, and didn't understand why Amethyst and Steven immediately grabbed her and pulled her closer.

Earth was strange.


	2. True Love Waits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby and Pearl wait while Sapphire regenerates.

“This never would have happened if we were Garnet!”

“Well, you can't just stay Garnet all the time.”

Ruby was frantic, and Sapphire was regenerating.

It occurred to Pearl, now that she thought on it, that this was the first time she had seen Sapphire dissipated like that. Her future vision meant that she was able to avoid most serious injuries, especially when fighting with Ruby - even outside of Garnet, they moved together like nothing Pearl had ever seen. Until yesterday, when Ruby had been targeted by a particularly massive Amethyst and Sapphire had…

Well, that was that, wasn’t it? Sapphire had easily saved Ruby, at best, a serious injury to her gem, nevermind the possibility of… worse. Compared to that, a few days of Sapphire regenerating was hardly anything. But Ruby had never really been the patient sort.

“She was protecting you,” Pearl reminded her. “I’m sure she was glad to do it.”

“”But she could have been destroyed!” Ruby cried out. “She was supposed to protect herself, too! That’s how it works!”

“She loves you,” Pearl said. “When you love someone, you put them before yourself.”

“But love is taking care of yourself, too. Because you mean just as much to them as they do to you.” Ruby flopped on the ground, arms folded.

Sapphire, while she had physical form, liked to talk a lot about balance. She brought it up often around Ruby, or when Pearl asked after their relationship. If she was here, Pearl thought, she’d have something to say on that.

But she wasn’t, and Pearl could only sit next to Ruby, arms around her knees, waiting.


	3. Voice Mail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Split up while the rebellion is short-staffed, Ruby and Sapphire communicate through a wailing stone.

"Ruby?

I have foreseen that this is one of the times when we are both most likely to be near the wailing stone. Are you there?

... I see.

I will try again in three hours and five minutes. Until then, I hope this message finds you well.

I love you."

* * *

"Sapphire?

Are you there?

... ugh, this is so stupid! We're worth more put together anyway! I bet we could cover this whole area in half the time as Garnet!

... Do you really think the Homeworld could find us if we carried ours? They can't do that, can they? No, don't answer that."

* * *

"Ruby-

Leave when you get this message. Don't take the stone. Don't come back until tomorrow."

* * *

"Sapphire?

I'm okay. I'm here. I'm okay.

This is so weird. I keep trying to look as us and then remembering.

Is it any easier for you? You get to see all the futures when we're together again.

I wish I could see you."

* * *

"Ruby?

We'll be together again. It'll be all right."

* * *

 "Sapphire? Are you there?"

"Ruby!"

"I got you! You're here! I missed you so much."

"I know. I missed you too."

"I can't wait until we're together again."

"I can't either."

"... Sapphire?"

"It doesn't matter."

"I just-"

"It doesn't matter how many there are. We'll see each other again."

"Is that really what you see?"

"It's what I believe."

"I love you, Sapphire."

"I love you too."

 


	4. Study Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl and Connie take a break while training.

“How did you learn to fight like that, anyway?”

Connie asked the question between gulps of water, overheated by the exertions of their training. It had been thousands of years, but it was still strange to Pearl sometimes how quickly humans tired - she remembered training for days on end when she first started, until no amount of concentration seemed to keep her hands on her sword and Rose would call her by her side.

“Rose Quartz taught me,” Pearl said proudly.

“Steven's mother taught you?” Connie asked, eyes wide.

“Of course!” Pearl replied. “Rose was an incomparable fighter! That's her sword you're using, after all.” Pearl stared at the clouds as she said, “It was built just for her.”

“It's beautiful,” Connie said.

Pearl smiled before continuing, “I learned during the Gem War. We were undermanned - Rose needed more warriors.”

“She asked you to learn to sword fight?” Connie asked, sounding surprised. Pearl glanced down at her.

“What? Oh, no!” Pearl said. “I did.”


	5. Parent/Teacher Conference

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie's mother has a chat with Pearl about her sword training.

She starts by serving tea.

Priyanka thinks this is a good sign. For all the strangeness her daughter has become involved in, Steven Universe's house is rather… normal. Clean, well kept. A small kitchen, a loft with a bed obviously Steven’s, a decorative wall with several large gem decorations that she assumes must lead to a basement of some sort.  She tries to stifle her surprise at this - she'd promised Connie she would give all… this a chance, after all.

So Priyanka accepts the proffered cup, taking a slow sip - rose hips and hibiscus, unsweetened. Priyanka smiles. “Thank you-” She pauses. Frowns. “I'm still not… entirely sure how to address you,” she admits. “Steven said your name was Pearl. Are you his sister, or his aunt, or?”

“Ha, no!” Pearl laughs, a little louder than Priyanka thinks is really polite, but she seems kind enough about it. “I was,” she pauses as well, and Priyanka wonders if she’s not the only one not quite sure how to address this strange, pale woman. “Rose’s closest confidant,” she seems to settle on. “Garnet and Amethyst and I are raising Steven, now that Rose is… gone.”

“I never did get the story of what exactly happened with her,” Priyanka asks slowly. “Connie said she died in childbirth?”

“She's not _dead_ ,” Pearl says, a little sharply. “She just… gave up her physical form to have Steven.”

Priyanka does not say anything. She breathes. Remembers a promise to her daughter in a dark parking lot surrounded by strange creatures and a stranger child. Drinks her tea. It's just the right temperature, almost too hot but not enough to scorch the leaves. “I'm sorry,” she manages at last. “This is all… very new to me.”

“It's new to us all,” Pearl says, a little too quietly, and it's then that Priyanka, finally, decides she likes her after all. She sets her cup down, porcelain clinking and warmth in her veins.

“So the first time I called here, when… Garnet?... said the children were ‘playing swords’... was that when this all started?”

“Oh, no!” Pearl laughs again, the same as before, but Priyanka’s starting to hear the warmth in it. “First of all, you don't  _play_  with swords. Garnet never understands that. She doesn’t even have a real weapon, she just hits things.”

“Right…” She shouldn't have set the tea down. She doesn't know what to do with her hands anymore, and settles for folding them in her lap. “But was it then?”

“Oh, no, that was much later,” Pearl explains. “She asked to start lessons… yes, it was four months ago last week.”

“She _asked_?” Priyanka can't keep the surprise from her voice.

“Of course!” Pearl replies. “How else would she have started them?”

Priyanka doesn't know how to answer that. “Have you been… swordfighting long?”

“A few thousand years now,” Pearl says, and Priyanka’s hands find her tea again.

“Have you had many students?” she asks.

“Oh, no,” Pearl tells her. “Steven asked once, but there was an accident and he hasn't been interested since.”

“Someone was hurt?” she asks, alarmed.

“It was nothing serious. He wasn't paying attention and I took my eyes off of my sparring hologram,” Pearl explains. “I think he was more attached to the idea of it than the actual training.” She frowns slightly.

“You let him just quit?”

“Of course. Why would I make him take lessons if he doesn't want to learn?”

Her tea is growing cold. Priyanka doesn't know why it's rattling in her hands, the cup against the saucer. “... is Connie doing well?” she asks eventually. “I don't know if you keep… grades or anything?”

“What's a grade?” Pearl asks, confused.

“It's -  a score on how she's doing. Like, an A, or 95 out of a hundred, or…?” She trails off. “Is she picking it up quickly?”

“Oh, yes, she's excellent! I'm very impressed. I didn't learn that quickly, and Rose was a much better teacher than I am.”

“Steven's mother taught you?”

“None other! That's her sword that Connie’s been using. I think she'd be happy to see this. I'd always thought Steven would use it, but this isn't bad.” Pearl picks up her own mug of tea, smiling down at it. “Earth always throws these little surprises. I think that's why Rose liked it so much.”

“Oh.”

They sit in silence for a while, and finally, Priyanka sighs. “I never thought she'd do anything like this. I never wanted her to… to _fight_.”

“I don't think anyone _wants_ someone else to fight.” Pearl says. “Not someone they care about. But you always want to fight for them.”

“I suppose that’s true.” She looks back up at Pearl and, finally, smiles. “I guess Rose was right. About surprises.”

“Maybe she was,” Pearl says, and drinks her tea.

 


	6. (untitled)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl contemplates the nature of Steven's gem.

Bubbled gems aren't supposed to feel anything.

Pearl doesn't know for sure - it's not like she's ever tried it herself - but it sounds right to her. The few times she's ever seen one unbubbled, they've sprung back just as they were, not even a new form like with a gem who's been dissipated, not even aware of the time that's passed.

It's not always the case, though. And Pearl has had her physical form dissipated more than enough to know the feeling of that strange regenerative slumber, unaware entirely of her surroundings, mind filled with nothing but the thoughts or her own previous forms and how best to reshape herself.

Either way, though, without their form, the Gem has no idea what's happening around them. This is the rule, one she knows well.

But...

Steven is neither of those things. His situation is entirely unknown, like nothing they've ever seen before. And for all that he has difficulty accessing its powers, his gem is active. And sometimes she wonders…

Rose’s gem is there, after all. Intact, unbroken. Dormant. She certainly wouldn't want to lose Steven. But when Steven himself is sleeping, well…

She watches, sometimes. She waits.

She wonders.

 


	7. A Pearl's Duty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl meets Rose Quartz

“Is this her?”

Her master's voice is the first she ever hears, exactly as it should be. The Pearl waits, patiently, to be addressed, remaining at attention until further acknowledged.

“Yes, but - oh no, oh no! This is all wrong!” the Topaz says.

Pearl does not move.

“Her gem!” the Topaz continues. “Look at that, it's completely off-round. You'll have to send for a new one-”

“Oh, nonsense,” her master says sharply. “It's well within tolerances. I'm not waiting for a new one.” The woman turns towards Pearl, and smiles, just a little. “Come along, now,” Rose says, and for decades after she will wonder over the warmth in her voice.

Pearl falls into step behind her.

* * *

A Pearl wants nothing more than to please her master.

Pearl must be very good at her job, because Rose is always smiling. She keeps their quarters perfectly clean and organized, greets guests, takes messages.

She dances.

Rose loves to watch her dance, especially, clapping in delight after every performance.

“You’re so beautiful,” she tells Pearl.

“Not as much as you are, my lady,” Pearl tells her dutifully.

“Not in the same way,” Rose corrects her. Pearl doesn't understand. But it seems to be important, and it's hardly a Pearl’s place to correct her.

* * *

A Pearl wants nothing more than to please her master. There is room for nothing else, no desire, no curiosity.

Certainly, a Pearl does not tinker while her master is away. She does not read over technical logs, she does not salvage scrap parts, she does not aspire to learn beyond her station.

Which is why Rose has certainly not caught her in the act of any of these things.

“I - I -” Pearl stammers, but Rose just smiles at her, and Pearl doesn't know why it looks different than all the times before.

(Well. Not _all_ of them.)

“Pearl, it's okay. I don't mind you doing whatever you want when you have the time to spare.”

“But-”

“I'll make it an order if you'd like.” Rose’s smile fades. “That's the proper way to do it, isn't it?”

Pearl only bows her head in thanks.

* * *

“Can you dance for me again, Pearl?”

It begins as normally as any other day, Rose watching as Pearl begins her routine. Until, that is, she stands, and begins to sway.

“My lady-” Pearl begins, moving towards her side, but Rose shakes her head.

“Don't stop,” she says.

Pearl doesn't understand it. It's a strange, unseemly thing, master and Pearl dancing, styles clashing and completely out of sync.

“I knew a pair of Gems once,” she says slowly, hips swaying as they move around each other. “Who danced so beautifully they fused when they finished. A Ruby and a Sapphire.”

“Is that even possible??” Pearl asks, amazed.

“It was for them.” Rose frowns slightly. “They were separated when their commanders found out. Reassigned to different units. They would have been recycled entirely, but I vouched for them.”

“Were they very good warriors?” Pearl asks, confused.

“She was,” Rose replies, and Pearl doesn't understand.

* * *

A Pearl wants nothing more than to please her master.

Pearl wonders what she's doing wrong, because Rose never seems to smile anymore.

“Have you been keeping up with your studies?” Rose asks one day.

“Exactly as you ordered, my lady,” Pearl says with a bow, but Rose doesn't seem any happier to hear it.

“Can you tell me what you've learned?” Rose asks, and Pearl tells her, about electricity and relativity, about entanglement and escape velocity, and Rose closes her eyes as she listens.

“Do you ever want more than this, Pearl?” she asks after a while.

“Of course not, my lady.”

“Of course not.” She opens her eyes. “Why do you want to learn science?”

Pearl has no answer to that.

“I'm going to be overseeing a new Kindergarten soon,” Rose says eventually. “Would you like to come with me?”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Why?”

“To serve you, my lady, of course,” Pearl tells her.

“Of course,” Rose echoes, and Pearl doesn't understand her frown.

* * *

“I want to see space.” Pearl is shaking as she speaks the words, wringing her hands together as she knows she shouldn't. But she finally understands, she thinks. “I want to see other planets. I want to know what it's like. Just like you do.”

And she doesn't even know which of them she's lying to, or about which part, but it doesn't matter. All that matters is Rose’s face, the way her smile lights up her eyes and she grabs Pearl, swinging her around like a dance.

A Pearl wants only to serve her master. There can be nothing more.

There can be nothing more.

 


	8. Crystal Greg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greg Universe comes along on a Gem mission.

“But a whole _week_?” Greg seems to be taking the news of the Gems’ upcoming mission poorly.

“Oh, at _least_ ,” Pearl adds with only a little glee. “Maybe longer. Who knows? These kinds of missions tend to take a while.”

“Can't I come with you?” Greg asks. Pearl's expression drops instantly. “I mean, it's not very dangerous, is it? You said you're just going to be mostly scouting locations, right? It could be like a road trip!”

“Oh…” Rose pauses, thinking it over. “I don't know if that's such a good idea…”

“It's a terrible idea!” Pearl interjects. “He doesn't have any Gem powers, he'll be killed! Or ruin the mission!” Greg glowers at her. Rose’s frown deepens.

“It's think... “ Garnet extends a hand… and raises a thumb. “It's an excellent idea!”

“Oh, well then, I'm sure nothing bad will happen,” Rose says, and Pearl's never hated a smile so much. “All right, Greg, you can come along!”

“... you really don't see see _any_  trouble?” Pearl asks, grudgingly, at long last.

“Huh?” Garnet asks. “Oh, yeah, no. It's going to be a disaster.”

Not for the first time, Pearl rues the day Greg Universe ever stumbled into their life.

* * *

“Keep your head inside the tube!” Pearl hisses, yanking Greg back from the edge of the teleporter.

“Ow!” Greg complains. “It's not like it's easy! How do you use this?”

“You get used to it,” Amethyst says with a shrug. “Hey, Greg, I bet I can stick my arm out further than you can without falling out!”

“You're on!”

“Are you _really_  sure this is a good idea?” Pearl asks Rose.

“Well, it's good to see everyone getting along,” Rose just says.

“Hey, no shapeshifting! That's cheating!”

Pearl groans

* * *

It's been going… decently, so far. Pearl hates that even more, somehow.

They haven't even spotted the Ice Mynah yet, but they've found a decent trail. Between the tracker Pearl had constructed and Garnet’s future vision, they've been getting closer and closer, and soon Amethyst even finds the first of its frost eggs.

This, of course, is where the trouble begins.

“Woah, is that it?” Greg asks, leaning in for a closer look. “It's so…” he chuckles to himself. “ _Cool_.”

“Don't get near it!” Pearl chides.

“I'm not! I'm not even close to - woah!” he yells as Garnet yanks him back, just in time to avoid the cluster of ice spikes erupting under his feet. “Oh, geez, that's really sensitive.”

“That's enough, we're getting close, he needs to go home-”

“Hey, I'm not going anywhere!” Greg says. “Besides, we're way too far from the teleporter pad. You'll lose the trail. Right, Rose?”

“Right,” she says, then ponders. “Well, I suppose we could bubble you…”

“Uh, what?” Greg asks.

“Oh, I won't!” Rose says. “I was just thinking.” She kisses Greg on the head. “Anyway, just stay close to me. I'll be sure to shield you.”

Pearl stares after them in dismay.

* * *

“You're slowing us down!” Pearl protests, the fifth time that Greg stumbles along the worn path, only to be caught by Garnet once again. “We're getting closer, there might be a fight.”

“A fight?” Greg asks, sounding nervous for the first time. “I thought you said you were just going to capture this thing.”

“Psh, yeah!” Amethyst says. “It's a huge ice bird, dude. It's not gonna come quietly!”

“I don't know about this…” Greg says.

“See?” Pearl jumps in. “Even he's thinking better of it! Let's send him back now before it's too-”

Below them, the ground starts to shake, erupting with spires of ice.

* * *

Pearl can't see Rose.

Pearl can't see anyone, through the fog, aside from Greg, who she'd had the ‘luck’ to be beside when the Mynah had attacked.

“Oh, this seems bad…” Greg says. “This seems really bad.”

“Just stay close,” Pearl says, summoning her spear quickly. “We have to get to cover!”

“I think I saw some caves this way!” Greg says, grabbing Pearl’s elbow as he leads the way.

The shriek starts above them, giving Pearl only moments of warning before the ice shard barrels towards them both. She barely strikes it out of the air in time, then another, and another.

“What is that? I can't see anyth- ow!” he trips over a low stone, sending them both toppling to the ground.

“Run! I'll hold it off!” Pearl shouts, pushing herself to her feet.

“But-”

“Just go!”

Pearl slides her feet into her stance, weapon at the ready. She can hear the beating of heavy wings above, the Mynah spiraling nearer and nearer.

“Here! Here!” she calls, waving her spear in the air for good measure. “I'm right here! Come get me!”

The bird shrieks again, and dives. Pearl moves, leaping into a graceful spiral as she slashes at a wing, only to be sent flying backwards by a powerful blow. She lands nimbly, ducking the ensuing ice bullet before running in.

In an instant, there are four of her, holograms spiraling in perfect mirror as she surrounds her confused opponent. The Mynah roars, buffeting its wings in a show of tremendous force, the icy cyclone dragging the corporeal Pearl closer and closer.

“No!” Pearl leaps as the Mynah bites at her, but too slow as the colossal bird seizes her in its beak, biting down as she cries out.

Then suddenly, it jerks, whipping its head towards the nearby overhang.

“Why don't you pick on something your own size!” Greg calls out, throwing another rock towards the Mynah’s eye. It reels, then moves towards him, snarling, and Pearl seizes her chance.

The spear rips through its throat, sinking deeply into its chest. With a howl, the Mynah releases Pearl, sending her tumbling towards the ground as, staggering, it dissipates, leaving behind only a clear blue gem. Barely daring to think, Pearl runs towards it, icy fog quickly dissipating around them, and bubbles it.

“Pearl! Greg!” Rose’s voice is a welcome relief, and soon they're all running towards each other, relieved to see the others intact.

“Oh, you did it!” Rose cries, bending down to look at the bubble in Pearl’s hands.

“That's it?” Greg asks, panting as he leans over to examine it as well. “Wow, it looks so… harmless like that.”

“Well, it had better stay that way,” Pearl says, sending the bubble back to the Temple, then jerks in surprise as Rose throws an arm around her and Greg both.

“Congratulations, you two!” Rose beams. “How was the fight? Are you both okay?”

“Oh, you know,” Greg says, scratching the back of his head. “I was sort of worried at first, but I don't think it was actually that bad!”

Pearl hates her life.


End file.
